Quassy is a park that has really grown and evolved in the past 5-6 years. Before the park definitely felt its age. When you entered the parking lot, you could hear the creaking of the rides and see faded paint. Now the park has done a complete 180 for the better.

Gone are the older flats and in are vibrantly painted modern flats, some of which are very unique. The old playground by the beach has now been replaced by a full-fledged and constantly growing water park. They also got a brand new entrance. And most importantly, they got their signature attraction in Wooden Warrior.

Here's that fancy new entrance. Though admission is free so you can be a rebel and walk around if you so choose.

And the park still has it's older charm too.

I was planning on stopping in for just 2 rides on Wooden Warrior, but I arrived at 4:54 and the after 5 deal was a fantastic value at just $15! So I waited 6 minutes snapping photos of their water park, got my wristband, and then still made my way to Wooden Warrior.

Quassy's newest slides.

Despite a height restriction of 35-40 ft, they have an impressive mix of slides.

I remember thinking Wooden Warrior looked like a cute little family coaster. It is little and it can be enjoyed by families, but it's also a really good coaster. Despite standing no taller than 30-35 feet, the airtime this coaster provides is unbelievable, particularly on the ride's larger drops (which again are only 25-40 feet in height). And that's something Gravity Group has translated to their other smaller woodies as well.

I rode Wooden Warrior mere hours after Oscar's Wacky Taxi, so I was interested to compare the two. Wooden Warrior’s airtime is more intense when it occurs, as there are 7 good spots of air. However, the hills are more drawn out. I sort of liked the frenetic nature of Oscar's Wacky Taxi more, but it's close. 8.5 out of 10

After 3 rides on Wooden Warrior, I decided to try the park’s newest flat, Reverse Time. When the park retired their old Chance Trabant, they immediately replaced it with SBF’s newer version with outward facing seats like Chance’s Freestyle model. I was intrigued to see if it'd be an upgrade. And for the most part it was, but it had one major tradeoff for us guys.

For the positives, gone are the cramped seats of old. Plus the ride feels faster with the outward seating, gives a few weak pops of air, and comes mere inches from nearby trees. And it also delivers strong strong laterals which comes both a blessing and a curse.

Laterals force you towards the outside of the vehicle. On standard wipeouts/trabants, that results in side-crushing laterals. On round-ups/rotors, your back feels glued to the wall. Both these are comfortable. But on Reverse Time your chest is driven into the restraint and at max speed, us guys will have our family jewels absolutely squashed. Fortunately I think Quassy realizes that as they throttle the ride, running it for 20-30 seconds in one direction and then slowing down to change speeds.

I think I do prefer this set-up over the usual Wipeouts. It's an intense little flat, but it's something that needs to be experienced in moderation if you ever want to have kids. 8 out of 10

Out with the old and in with the new.

Lasdt but not least, I rode what is probably Quassy’s most nauseating attraction, Frantic. Their lone inverting ride, Frantic is a diminutive inverting frisbee. While most inverting frisbees have their spinning slow to a crawl when it starts inverting, that isn't the case on Frantic. It's possible to get 2 full spins per revolution. Heck you may even get more on the few that hold you upside down for some glorious and disorienting hangtime.

I did notice the cycle significantly shortened. It used to run in one direction, switch directions once, and then switch directions again resulting in a 3-4 minute cycle. On this visit, Frantic only ran in one direction for 1-1.5 minutes. I wonder if they got tired of cleaning puke. 8 out of 10

If you don't have a strong stomach, steer clear of this ride.

I did want to also hit their wet/dry water slide on the way out, Big Flush. I rode that thing 15-20 times per visit as a kid, so this was purely for nostalgia. Unfortunately they now implement a “no single rider” policy so that wasn't possible. I do wonder what changed since I grew up solo riding it.

Wasn't getting flushed today.

Quassy still isn't a full day park for me, but it is absolutely a park I'll stop by anytime I'm passing through Connecticut. Wooden Warrior is a fantastic airtime machine and seeing the park expand its offerings with modern attractions is really exciting.

Originally I was planning a full day at Lake Compounce, but sneaking off to ride Oscar's Wacky Taxi resulted in me having only 1.5 hours on the way home. Since it was too cold for the water park and lines were basically non-existent, that was plenty of time.

I know Lake Compounce has had a rocky past year. From the Sky Ride’s closure to Boulder Dash’s crash to the removal of free soda, it seemed like most news coming out of this park was negative. Still I committed to a season pass. One, it comes with a lot of perks, including free tickets for friends and free fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo rentals (though parking still requires a separste pass). Two, Boulder Dash. As long as Lake Compounce keeps one of my favorite woodies running well, I'll still keep coming through the gate.

I never get tired of this view.

171 and going strong.

Since I purchased my pass online, I waited in a 10 minute wait by the “Season Pass Processing” building only to then be told to process my season pass at a normal ticket booth. What? That was really weird and confusing, but the process was quick and painless once I was in the right spot. Plus I now have another card in my wallet with a hideous mugshot on it.

My priorities were the 2 good coasters and 1 renovated coaster, so I started a counterclockwise loop around the park making my first stop Phobia. All of Lake Compounce’s marketing used to revolve around Boulder Dash, but now Phobia is the coaster highlighted on commercials and radio advertisements. While Boulder Dash is my preferred ride without a doubt, Phobia looks a whole lot more intimidating since all 150 feet of its height is visible and unobstructed.

These Sky Rocket II’s are one of the best clones out there. Considering their footprint, it's impressive Premier was able to cram launches, ejector air, and a hangtime filled inversion into one ride. While the launches aren't super powerful, the air cresting and descending the top section is absolutely thigh-crushing in power.

For the longest time, Compounce was a one man show. Phobia is the perfect Robin to Boulder Dash's Batman. 8 out of 10

If this were at a Six Flags park, the advertising would probably be around the region's highest inversion. It also probably would be called Goliath, Batman, or Superman.

Boulder Dash was at one point my favorite wooden coaster. The insantiy known as Lightning Rod and glowfest ERT on Phoenix bumped it down a few spots, but it was still a top 3 wooden coaster. Unfortunately it wasn't quite running up to its full potential on this visit, but it was still better than 90% of the woodies out there.

One possible sign was that Boulder Dash valleyed early in the season. I'm actually stunned that could even happen since it usually hauls through the course even on cooler 50 degree nights at Haunted Graveyard. Then on this visit, I was greeted to the back car being completely closed off. Since the front car is the best seat in the house, that didn't change my plans too much.

The speed at the bottom of the first drop felt was blistering and the insane laterals on the jumbo s-hill up and down the mountain felt as wild as usual, but I could tell something was off on the first two airtime hills. Quite simply put there was no airtime. Not even the coaster’s signature boulder hill, which is usually its best airtime moment, launched me front my seat. It definitely seemed like Boulder Dash was running a bit sluggish.

The rest of the outward leg had the abrupt pops of air as expected mixed in with powerful laterals, but the train really crawled up the turnaround. From early season reports, this is where Boulder Dash valleyed. While the far turnaround was missing its usual laterals, all of the speed was regained and the return leg was an absolute blur. I couldn't believe how much speed was recovered and we flew over every single hill, delivering lovely airtime in the process.

It was only 60 degrees out, but I've ridden Boulder Dash in cooler temperatures during Graveyard after it hadn't run all week and it still wasn't sluggish then, so it was a bit baffling here. Still a slightly sluggish Boulder Dash ride is a fantastic wooden coaster. It has one of the best settings of any coaster and delivers airtime and laterals in droves. On the bright side, it was running reasonably smooth outside of one really bad hill on the outward leg riddled with jackhammering. I'm just hoping it speeds back up later in the season. 9.5 out of 10

Truly the best mountain coaster out there.

It has the obligatory long lift, but it actually goes faster than 30 mph all while having the similar mountain setting.

This part of the ride was running a bit slow.

But the finale was hauling per usual. Fantastic airtime!

I knew I'd be returning to Boulder Dash, but first I wanted to finally experience the renovated Wildcat. What was supposed to be a retracking process complete by spring 2017 turned into a season long endeavor. I think Wildcat ran for a grand total of 1-2 weeks last year before they closed it early to repaint it in an orange and black color scheme inspired by Garfield.

One concern I had with the renovation was the reduced capacity. The old trains held 18 people with buzzbars. The new Millennium Flyers held 4 less people and couldn't be checked as quickly. I'd say the park realized this issue and that's why they have a second train, but Lake Compounce doesn't run multiple trains on their coasters anymore. Heck, they barely even have mutli-log operations on their flume. Even on a deserted day, Wildcat still had a slow-moving 20 minute wait, so I shudder to think how long it'd get on a busier day.

I was immediately worried by how bumpy the lift hill was. Yes you read that right; somehow the lift hill was bumpy. Fortunately the rest of the ride was mostly smooth, a stark contrast to how it used to run. This kitty had claws and had previously blood on a few of my friends and father. Now it was fine other than a few bumps as you'd expect from a wooden coaster.

The trains definitely tracked faster, but there was still no airtime. I honestly think you have better chance getting airtime entering the parking lot. But the increased speed did deliver some really wild laterals in the middle part of the ride. It always impresses me when a coaster that's primarily out-and-back can surprise me with laterals.

So how do I feel about the retracking? It definitely improved the coaster; that's without question. It's still just a decent wooden coaster at best, but Lake Compounce's picturesque entryway wouldn't look complete without this historical ride. Plus this does serve as the park’s family coaster now, albeit with a rather high height requirement. 6 out of 10

I love the new entrance.

I'm glad Lake Compounce preserves their history. Too bad the Sky Ride didn't count as history.

So weird to actually see Wildcat running for me during a visit.

I honestly think I got more air in the parking lot.

But there are laterals as compensation.

Down Time was loading as I passed it, so I gave the park’s drop tower a whirl. These S&S versions can't complete with the Larson or Intamin versions in terms of that stomach dropping sensation, but Down Time does offer a great view and some well executed clock effects. And there is at least a strong burst of air at the start of the descent. 8 out of 10

Using ticking effects before Time Traveler made them cool.

I had a half hour left, so I returned to Boulder Dash for a mini marathon to end the night. Before my first ride, a group of teens were kicked off since they were caught standing up on a different ride. Usually the accused would vehamently deny any such accusations, but these teens tried to plea that they “only stood for 5 seconds.” For anyone wondering, that admission got them ejected from the park.

The 8 pm close and a 9 pm sunset meant the coaster wasn't pitch black (a shame since this is one of the best night rides anywhere), but I'll get my right rides at Graveyard. Thanks to the park’s generous reride policy, I was able to rack up 6 more rides without leaving the station. That's the right way to end a visit at Lake Compounce.

I see a boulder. And I also see dashing.

I'm hoping Lake Compounce can rebound from 2017. They have an anchor attraction any park would be jealous to have, but some of their recent moves removed things that made the park unique. But hope is on the way as that massive clearing around the lake has to be for something. Maybe not in 2019, but sometime down the road.

Awesome report, I was planning on going there tomorrow, but it seems the wildcat is down AGAIN for maintenance until further notice (on the park's website...) and I didn't go last year because of this reason as well.

If I go, I'm very excited to go on Boulder Dash again. What a spectacular ride.

CanobieFan wrote:Awesome report, I was planning on going there tomorrow, but it seems the wildcat is down AGAIN for maintenance until further notice (on the park's website...) and I didn't go last year because of this reason as well.

If I go, I'm very excited to go on Boulder Dash again. What a spectacular ride.

Thanks! That's really a bummer Wildcat is down again. It was running pretty well a few weeks back so hopefully it's just temporary.

Canobie Coaster wrote:But hope is on the way as that massive clearing around the lake has to be for something. Maybe not in 2019, but sometime down the road.

I did get to talk to the park's GM about that a few months back. The clearing around the lake is, pretty much as it appears, going to be for the waterpark. They have literally decades worth of possible expansion plans for it. It definitely won't be filled up in 2019, or 2020, but they plan for it to be growing slowly for years to come.

Fortunately there are other improvements coming sooner. There are plans to replace the Skyride with at least one, likely multiple, flats. When I spoke to Jerry about it, they were in the process of testing the ground there; the composition of the soil and rock there will decide what kind of structures can be built. Jerry said he had some possible rides in mind for the spot, but he wasn't willing to share them yet, at least not before the site testing was finished. (Tell me a Condor 2G wouldn't be perfect there, though!).

There's also possibly more expansion room coming; the park was working out details on expanding somewhat past the lake. They'd been blocked by the town in the past and the homeowners beyond the park weren't willing to allow it, but they were working on some trades and deals there, and Jerry seemed pretty confident it would work out.

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